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v (No Model.) 2 Shets-Sheet H. E. PRIDMORE.

' GRAIN BINDER.

N0. 292,252. Patented Jan. 22, 1884'.

WITNESSES INVENTOR HenrgliPrdmorc.

.By his Attorneys 7 i I (No Model.) 7 2 Sheets-Sheet'fZ.

H. E. PRIDMORE. 1

GRAIN BINDER.

Nor 292,252. Patented Jan, 22, 1884.

Q N i lz.

" WITNESS ES V MENTOR '11 El .d I By his .dltorn'eys 6.22729 rt mare UNITED SQTATES PATENT FFICE...

HENRY E. PRIDMORE, oEoHIoAGo, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB TO THE MOCOBMIOK HARVESTING MACHINE COMPANY, or SAME-PLACE.

GRAIN-BINDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 292,252, dated January 22, 1684.

Application filed March 23, 1883. v (No model.)

4 To all whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY E. PRIDMORE, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and use- 5 ful Improvements in Grain-Binders, of which the following is a specification. Y

My invention relates, primarily, to a slack device for gathering in or storing up a slack length of cordfrom the spool and letting'it out at appropriate periods in themovement of the binder-arm or revolution of the knotter.

In one of the types. of binder now well known to the public, compressing arms or fingers are pivoted upon a hinged bar underlying the decking or floor of the grain-receptacle, and arranged therein so that they normally project up through said flooring and close the exit from said receptacle. Mechanism is also provided whereby the supportingbar swings down upon its hinge at the proper time, taking with it the compressing-fingers, to permit the escape of the bound sheaf. From the lower part or shank of the compressor connection is usually made with a trip-lever fast to a rock-shaft extending longitudinally beneath the receptacle, and bearing alifter or other suitable device, which disengages a dog or pawl from the clutch-shipper. or drivingdog, and allows the latter to spring or fall into position insuring engagement, and start the machine whenever the compressor has been rocked sufficiently on its pivot to raise the trip-lever to the proper distance for the purpose. In this machine, also, a slack give-up is employed, being a rigid lever pivoted to the frame-work, at one end having an eye, through which the cord confined on either side by guides passes on its way to the binder-arm, and at the other end bearing an anti-friction roll,which rests against the effective face of a cam attached'to one of the gear-wheels inthe train between the trip and the binding apparatus, so that said lever shall be positively operated to draw slack from the spool and afterward yield it upat the proper time or times in the movement of the binder-arm and knot ter. Such a machine, with some minor variations, I have chosen for the purpose of illustrating my invention, which latter consists in 50 combining with the slack-lever a cam which operates it twice for each binding operation, once to prepare a slack length for the knotter, and a second time to prepare a slack lengthin anticipation of the reverse movement of the binder-arm; in combining with V the slack-lever a tension device resting or pressing upon thecord in its passage through the eye or eyes thereof, and arranged in such manner that the pressure will be augmented as the lever moves to draw cord from the 6 spool; in combining with the slack-lever a tension device arranged to rest or press upon the cord in its passage through the eye or eyes thereof, and means whereby the original pressure of said device may be increased or diminished, and in the various other combinations and details of construction, hereinafter described and claimed. I In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front end elevation, partly in section, of a machine embodying my invention. Fig. '2 is a top plan view of so much thereof as is requisite to proper explanation of the same.

A Aare supporting-bars, usually formed of tubular metal, whereby the binding attachment is connected with the harvester.

' B is the decking of the grain-chute or bind ing-receptacle, and O a hinged leaf or tailboard at the foot thereof. Above the decking is a guard or deflector, D, converging theretoward, to form a throating for the grain, and serving also to shield the holding, knotting, and cutting devices which overlie it. The binder-arm E is keyed fast to a rock-shaft, E, beneath the decking, and rises through a slot cut in the latter. A crank-arm, f, from this rock-shaft is linked by a pitman, F, with a. wrist-pin, f, upon the gear and cam wheel F, fast to a shaft, F journaled in an overhung bracket above the grain-guard, and driving 0 ultimately the holding, knotting, and cutting devices. This gear and cam wheel is connected by intermediate pinions, G G, with aloose pinion, H, upon the shaft H, driven constantly from the harvester, and itself driving, by 5 cranks along its length, the packing arms, which force the grain in practically equal wisps from the head of the decking along the chute and pack it gradually into the receptaole; Upon the constantly-driven shaft is a clutch, I, of such construction that when tripped by the accumulation of the gavel it will engage with the loose pinion and lock it to the shaft, thereby causing it to drivethe gear and cam wheel and the instrumentalities which the latter controls. A dog or pawl,1, pivoted upon the rock-shaft which carries the binder-arm, and constantly urged down by an elastic spring,, 1, blocks the shipper or driving-dog i carried by the clutch, and normally holds the latter out of engagement; but when lifted against the stress of its spring releases said shipper and permits engagement.

The gear and cam wheel, by means of its cam-trackj'", operates, when in motion, the T-shaped lcverf, pivoted by its longer arm to the frame-work or braeketstandard, having on one of its shorter arms a roller, which takes into said cam-track, and receiving in the second short arm one end of a yielding pit- 'man, F, connected at its other end to a crankarm from a rock-shaft, K. An other and longer crank arm from said shaft has a link-connection, 7;, with the supporting-bar L, which bears the compressing-tingers L, and a second link-connection with the heelextension from the hinged leaf or tail-board, so that whenever the shaft is rocked upon its pivot by the action of the cam-track it will depress or raise the hinged supportingbar and concurrently open or close the hinged leaf, thus leaving the exit from the grain-receptacle clear for the discharge of the bound sheaf, or closing it for the ensuing binding operation.

Running parallel with the binder-arm shaft, and with the rock-shaft which controls the supporting-bar for the compressor-fi ngers, is another rock-shaft, )l, located between the two. The compressing-ilngers are bolted or riveted fast to their supporting-arm, and the lever M or trip-lever is carried up through the slot in the decking in position to intercept the grain as it is packed toward said fingers, and to rccede before it as it accumulates, so as to rock the tripping-shaft in the same manner as if moved by the action of the fingers of the compressor itself. ward or outer end this tripping-shaft has acrank-arm or lifter, m, which raises the stopdog, and such litter is of course furnished with the usual adjusting-screw, m, to be set up against the dog and secure nicety of action.

The transmitting-pinion G, engaging with the clutelrpinion, and making two complete revolutions to every single revolution of the gear and cam wheel and concurrent binding operation, has upon its side a cam, of sub stantially the outline shown. A slack-lever, N, is pivoted to the frame-work at 11, and has as its heel end. or that end projecting toward the cam, a roller, n, which rests against the periphery of said cam, and travels upon it. At the other end, projecting inward toward the harvester, this slack-leveris perforated for the passage of the cord, a guide, a for said .cord being placed on either side, the sill a, which underlies said end, affording convenient At the for-' means for the support of these guides. 'When the clutch-pinion is started in the binding operation, the ensuing motion of the intermcshing wheel forces the cam down upon the adjacent end of the slack-lever, and throws up the cord-arm of the latter as the binder-arm or needle is rising to encompass and compress the gavel. thus tightening the cord about said gavel and pulling a slack length from the spool. The knotter now starts, and the cam immediately begins to release the lever, yielding up the slack length, which is practically measured by double the distance which the lever has risen from the fixed guide-eyes a upon the sill. This length so yielded up, it will be understood, is in the spool-strand, running through theeye of the binder-arm, other provisionsas, for example, a movable holderframebcing employed to furnish slack 0011- currently from the other or old strand. As soon as the knotter ceases its revolution, and has grasped or is 011 the point of grasping the crossed ends of the cord, and the new end is seized by the holder, the lever again rises to gather a second slack length from the spool, and from whatever loose cord may lie between it and the binder-arm. Then, as the latter is being withdrawn beneath the decking or receiver, and the packers resume their effective action, it falls afresh to lay a sufficient quantity of free cord for the binder-arm to reach its position of rest without undue strain upon the holder, and to allow the unhindered contact of the incoming gavel with the trippingiingers or its accumulation to a sufficient size before the tripping devices are actuated. There will thus be no danger of pulling the cord out of the holder or of breaking it, either in the quick movement of the binderarm or under pressure from the grain, urged forward forcibly by powerful packing mechanism. Tension has heretofore been applied to the cord only as it emerged from the cord-box, or as it left the spool, or else upon its passage through or over some other fixed instrumentality between the. source of supply and the bimler-arm, and this tension has usually been continuous. The cord ran through the end of the slack-lever practically uninfiuenced as to tension thereby, and was always subject to the drag or strain of these extraneous instrumentalities, whether in the movement of said lever, or of the binder-arm, or ofthe knotter. I propose either to dispense entirely with such instrumentalities or to confine them to the office of exerting a minimum constant tension upon the cord, and to employ in connection with the slack-lever a tension acting upon the cord as it passes di reetl y therethro ugh,and so arranged or controlled that its action-will be intensified as the lever rises. For this purpose the end of the slack-lever is broadened, so as to fill the space between the cord-guides and the sill, and has cars at each side in close proximity to said guides, through which are drilled holes or eyes to receive the cord.

To the front frame-bar is bolted a casting,

r 0, bearing the pivot-pin for the slack-lever,

pulled therethrough and retarding it.

and inside of this arm or lever is asecond arm, 1?, sleeved to said pin, and extending inward until it rests at its point in a space between the ears, so as to lie or press upon the cord passing from the eye in one to the eye in the other. A'coiled' spring, 19, encircles the pivot-pin insidevof this pressing or tension arm and bears upon a shoulder, 19, fromthe latter by one end, while the other end is, made to take over or bear against one of a series of pins, 0, arranged in a semicircle about said plate for the purpose of permitting the stress of the spring to be varied. This spring will force the tension-arm down upon the end of the slack-lever, compressing the cord as it is As long as the slack-lever is at rest, the pressure will be slight, or preferably nothing, so that the cord may pull'through easily and freely; but whenever the cam acts upon the lever to raise it and accumulate a slack length the tension-arm will also be raised coiling up its spring, which will resist with constantly-increasing force, thereby causing the cord between the lever and the holder to be tightened and remain taut, though yet capable of being drawn upon so long as the lever is up.-

As the lever fallsfthe pressure will, on the contrary, gradually decrease until the normal position is again reached, when the cord will again run freely or with such slight tension as it may be deemed desirable to apply.

The cam which operates this slack-lever I form of a peculiar shape-that is, it has a cut-away portion, 9, in which the anti-friction roll or-traveler remains at rest, and from this a sharp rise intended to depress said traveler and raise the remote or effective end of the lever when the binding mechanism starts, and after this it is laid upon 'a helical curve, gradually re-entering towards the axis until it returns to the cut-awayportion, so that the lever may not instantly and abruptly resume its position of rest, but reach it by a gradual fall.

I do not limit myself to the peculiar shape of cam, nor to a pivoted lever, as a sliding bar may be substituted; nor do I intend to be time to prepare and yield slack to the binderarm as it recedes from the holder.

2. The combination, substantially as here inbefore set forth, with the binder-arm, knot ter, and cord-holder, of a slack device intermediate between said arm and the cord box or spool, and a tension device brought into effective action upon the cord at the moment said slack device is actuated to gather in or store up a slack length. 1

3. The combination, substantially as here inbefore set forth, with the slack-lever, of a tension device lying or pressing upon the, cord as it passes through said lever, and arranged in such manner that its pressure is increased as the lever rises.

4-. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of the pivoted slack-lever, the ears formed at the effective end, the cam acting upon its heel end, theindependentlypivoted tension-arm resting upon the cord be tween said ears, and the spring acting upon said tension-arm.

inbefore set forth, of the plate bolted to thefranie-work, the pivot-pin formed upon said plate, the slack-lever journaled upon said pivot-pin and formed with perforated ears at its effective end, the tension-arm resting upon the slack-lever between said ears, the spring coiled about the pivot-pin and pressing at one end against a shoulder on the tension-arm, and the series of adj Listing-pins arranged upon the plate, with any one of which the second end of the spring is adaptedto engage to de termine'its stress.

7. The combination, substantially as here inbefore set forth, with the pivoted slack-lever, of the cam having the outline shown and described.

HENRY E. munitions.

\Vitnesses:

JOHN V. A. HASBROOK, W. J. DUNN. 

